THAT is your best advice???

Blech. I'm not a fan of it when the best advice someone can give on learning a particular type of folk magic is "Find a teacher". Nice.

Specific magico-cultural religions aside, that kind of advice falls short if you live in a geographic area where the local magical, occult, and/or pagan communities have little to offer in that regard, and you can't afford air fare to other parts of the country (including vehicle transportation and lodging) on a regular basis. And local magical shops can fall short too if they only carry the cheapo mass-market tripe (Witch School, Ravenwolf books, etc). Don't even get me started on stores like Barnes & Noble.

And yes, I do speak from experience. Thank the Gods for the internet!

Mini-Rant: "Energy"

You know, it would be nice if I could go more than a month or two without hearing or reading someone talking about "negative people" and their fucking "energy" "attacking" or "slapping", "hitting", "stabbing" others or whatnot.

Some people really need to grow some damn balls for a change and realize that, most often, the "energy" they are supposedly feeling is their own reaction to the behavior of others, NOT to some energy the other person is "smacking" them around with. Man up (or, for the ladies, put your Big Girl Panties on) and accept that sometimes other people put you off, instead of redirecting the blame to them and their "energy". It's unfair and lacks courage to make that kind of accusation against others, because they can't prove or disprove your claim that they're "hitting" you with their "energy".

Sometimes I think that, collectively, modern eclectic magical paths need a bit more maturity and less informing from the New Age movement.